Do only film stars deserve humane treatment, asks Bombay HC

Nagpur: Apparently pointing to the lenient approach adopted by the Maharashtra government towards Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, the Bombay High Court has ordered grant of parole to a fellow convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

Hearing the petition filed by Yakub Abdul Majid Nagul, lodged at central jail in Nagpur, division bench of Justices Bhushan Gavai and Atul Chandurkar of the Nagpur bench of High Court said on Thursday that it is distressing to see that a man lost his daughter but was still denied the parole.

"Don't you have a humane approach, or it is only the film stars that you act humanly towards?" the bench said, apparently referring to Dutt, convicted in the same case for illegal possession of arms, who has repeatedly got parole extensions.

Nagul, a Mumbai resident, is serving a life sentence.

His lawyer Mir Nagman Ali argued that Nagul's wife wrote to Nagpur Divisional Commissioner and the jail authorities seeking his release on parole on February 14, as their daughter had died three days earlier.

But even after ten days, there was no decision.

“The Court directed the jail authorities to grant him parole forthwith, following which he was released on Thursday evening,” his lawyer said.